HOUSTON — A Texas family said one of their beloved pets sacrificed itself to save their daughter from a burning home, according to KRIS in Corpus Christi.
The family said their house burned down on New Year's Eve, but what happened next was a miracle.
"We heard this huge, loud banging on our door and like our wall," Jennifer Oleniczak told KRIS.
She said that's when she decided to get up and wake her husband. From there, Oleniczak said she ran to the back door and heard a neighbor yelling about her house being on fire. She yelled for her daughter and husband to get out, then grabbed her Shih Tzu and six puppies.
"I started to run with them outside, but I tripped, so I broke my fall," Oleniczak said. "I saw my last two puppies catch fire and I screamed at my husband. I just yelled, 'Oh my God save me.'"
As her husband and neighbors helped her up onto the street, Oleniczak's 15-year-old daughter, Jaylee, started screaming that the dog woke her up.
"She said, 'Yes, that's how I heard the door,' because Ollie came into the room," Oleniczak said.
The next day the family searched for their pit bull named Ollie. They checked the burned-down house, posted it all over social media, and even checked the shelters in Corpus Christi.
On Jan. 9, they finally found Ollie.
"My husband went in and he found him right at my daughter's bedside," Oleniczak said. "At the foot of her bed like he had collapsed from the smoke inhalation."
Oleniczak said she lost seven dogs, but was able to save four. Ollie's actions stopped her loss from being greater.
"I just wanted to give him a big hug, you know, because had he not one in there, Jaylee would have died."